Titanic Sanremo battle in store, says champion navigator

Co-driver Paul Nagle, who partnered Kris Meeke to Intercontinental Rally Challenge title glory in 2009, reckons that up to 12 drivers are capable of winning Rallye Sanremo, round 10 of the 12-event series, which gets underway in Italy tomorrow.

Speaking after completing reconnaissance for the asphalt event, Nagle said the prospects were for a very open and competitive rally after organisers attracted a record-breaking entry of 30 Super 2000 cars.

“It’s going to be fantastic and as many as 12 drivers are in with a shout of winning it,” said Nagle, who won the event with Meeke last season to secure the IRC crown. “We expect a big, big battle and it’s going to be fantastic for the fans. You always get huge numbers of people up in the mountains and it will be no different this year.”

Nagle suggested local heroes Paolo Andreucci and Giandomenico Basso would be Peugeot UK driver Meeke’s toughest opponents but didn’t rule out the threat posed by the Skoda Motorsport trio of Juho Hanninen, Jan Kopecky and Freddy Loix, a three-time winner this season.